Chapter 5: Suicide Ring
After confirming that the Red Tide Corpse Queen was completely dead, Roger began to carefully count the drops.
Most of the circumstances during this battle was within his expectations.
As a monster who could have her place on Yuntai Mountain where monsters are rampant, she must not be someone who was easy to deal with.
As for her trump card…
It was not surprising for any sapient creature to have a trump card.
The only thing that upset Roger was–
The Red Tide Corpse Queen not only hid the insidious means of [Corpse Explosion + Rebirth], but she also had reservations on her level.
Though both were elite monsters, the strength gap between LV5 and LV7 was not small.
This forced him to upgrade on the spot himself, which disrupted his [energy accumulation] rhythm to a certain extent.
Fortunately, his Qi Divination Technique also had the effect of shielding his Qi.
Although he was now a LV8 Hermit Ranger, under the disguise of the Qi Divination Technique, the level that was displayed to others was only around LV6.
This kind of information gap could give Roger a great sense of security.
…
There was nothing valuable on the body of Red Tide Corpse Queen.
But Roger was not discouraged.
After wiping out the few surviving Red Tide Zombies, he strode into the canyon.
Since the Red Tide Corpse Queen was a sapient monster, she probably had the habit of storing her belongings; even if she had valuable things, she probably wouldn’t carry them with her.
The only place that could store things in the huge canyon was the tent.
Roger meticulously searched every corner of this canyon.
Ant that tent was the focus of his search.
The result was naturally quite rewarding.
He found about a dozen clay pots in the corners of the tent and the canyon.
The clay pots were filled with copper order coins tinted with patina.
Roger counted and found that there were almost 600 copper orders here, which was twice the amount of bounty given by the Lord’s Mansion!
“No wonder so many people are willing to take the risks, the money indeed comes fast,” he lamented.
This was the greatest wealth Roger had gained since he got teleported here!
Taking Tongma Town as an example.
2 copper orders could buy 1 hefty old pumpkin.
10 copper orders could allow you to drink 1 small cup of the best [Dragon Stream Wine] in the wine bar.
30 copper orders were about enough to buy 1 pig.
And a piece of well-crafted adventure equipment would often cost more than 300 copper orders.
…
In addition to the copper orders, Roger also found some useful items.
He found two wooden boxes in the canyon and then packed all these items inside them.
Most of these items were old daily utensils: Jars, clay pots, tin boxes, and the like.
He roughly estimated that if he were to sell these items to a blacksmith or grocery store, you could probably get around 100 copper orders.
If he was willing to bring these goods in person to the Gem City in the south to sell, the price could even double.
And among these daily utensils, there were also three treasures that Roger had identified using the Qi Divination Technique.
The first piece was [Quicksand Lamp].
This was an inconspicuous oil lamp-like object. At first, Roger didn’t notice its abnormality, so he left it with other daily utensils, but it didn’t take long before he discovered the wonder of the Quicksand Lamp.
Unlike ordinary oil lamps, this lamp was filled in half by some fine, white sand.
Just by shaking it lightly, the quicksands would rub against each other, emitting soft white light, which was perfect for night lighting.
The second piece of treasure was a small piece of [Mithril].
This was Roger’s first contact with mithril in this world. He heard from the blacksmith, Miller, that mithril was of great value to mages. In the Gem City of the south, it was a priceless treasure.
He wasn’t sure how the Red Tide Corpse Queen managed to get hold of this kind of treasure, but now it was Roger’s.
Limited by the characteristics of the Hermit Ranger profession, he would never be able to cast magic spells, so mithril was only a different kind of currency in his hands.
But the good thing was that this currency was huge.
This mithril was only about the size of a baby’s fist, but it was definitely worth more than 2000 copper orders!
“Is this the joy of being rich?”
Roger carefully hid the mithril in the lining of his jacket.
…
The third treasure was a strange piece of equipment.
…
[Suicide Ring]
[Rating: B+]
[Enchantment: Extreme Burning Storm]
[Extreme Burning Storm: 2nd Circle Spell, with the Magic Ring as the center, three burning air swirls are formed, burning out all lifeforms.]
[Use: Ninth Spell of Mystra]
[Limit: Once a day]
…
After reading the effects of the [Extreme Burning Storm], Roger now understood what the name of the item meant.
So it was an item that allowed the user to perish together with the opponent.
After all, Extreme Burning Storm was a 2nd Circle spell with an indiscriminate attack. Even if the opponent was killed, it would be hard for the user who was located at the center of the storm to survive too.
“This thing seems to be tailor-made for me…”
The more Roger understood about the Magic Ring, the more he liked it.
After all, his magic resistance was already full. Although Extreme Burning Storm was a 2nd Circle spell, which meant that it posed [circle number suppression] on him who was still at 1st Circle, the effect it inflicted on him would just be a little troublesome.
The only thing that gave him a headache was the [Ninth Spell of Mystra].
He had heard of this term before, it was an abbreviation of some common spells designated in agreement by the magic casters of Mystra.
The original intention of the design of these spells was to promote magic items so that non-casters could also use spells.
There were more than a dozen of these spells, each of which can correspond to the use of a type of magic item.
For example, the Ninth Spell corresponded to ring-type items.
Unfortunately, Roger had no knowledge about the spells.
The few apprentice mages in Tongma Town did not seem to know about the Ninth Spell either.
“It seems that I’ll have to head to Gem City soon after I’ve killed off the Corpse Demon.”
“Tongma Town is a small place after all.”
As he was thinking, he hid the Suicide Ring and mithril together.
…
After counting the drops and arranging them in the boxes, it was almost dusk.
Roger did not rush to head down the mountain but instead carried the quicksand lamp and a foldable back basket and walked deep into the canyon.
After a while, he stopped at the edge of the canyon, bent over to remove the weeds, and a plant with bright yellow stamens and sharp fine leaves appeared in front of him.
…
[Seven Flower Silvergrass: Plant/Herb]
[Characteristics: It likes the cold and moist environment, often living in areas with excessive magic power]
[Effect: It can be used to treat “magic addiction”]
…
“Sure enough, this is the [Seven Flower Silvergrass].”
Roger felt a little happy.
He used the small herb hoe he carried to dig up the soft ground, carefully digging out this valuable herb from its roots and placed it in his back basket.
Then, he got up and went forward, looking for the next herb.
It didn’t take long before he found another Seven Flower Silvergrass. Overjoyed, he started digging it up.
This was because Roger was not only a Hermit Ranger but also an intermediate pharmacist.
In the past ten years after he teleported, he had been using his free time to collect herbs and make medicines.
Hermit Ranger and pharmacist were two highly compatible professions.
These two fields had many things in common, which helped Roger greatly.
It was a pity that Qi Divination could not be used to identify herbs.
This meant that he couldn’t loaf on the job, as he could only search for the herbs with his naked eyes.
Fortunately, patience was one of the few things that Roger did not lack.
The sky was getting dark, and the night wind got stronger.
In the canyon, only the sounds of whistling wind and Roger’s silent footsteps remained.
Collecting the herbs for an entire night, he returned with a full load.
In addition to the four [Seven Flower Silvergrass] used to treat the magic addiction of the mages, he also collected more than 20 [Lattice Vine] and [Sui Sui Flower]—these two herbs were the main ingredients in making the [Basic Antihemorrhagic Cream].
“It’s time to head down the mountain.”
After picking up the heavy back basket, Roger pulled himself together and hid the two wooden boxes in a special location. Facing the early morning breeze, he left Yuntai Mountain.
…